Managing All the Camping Gear

[Bigdog57]

As I am six feet four, the reach isn't a problem - but my buddy, it's a bit much for him! Seems I always pal around with short guys.......

[racegrrl7665]

I can totally relate!

My house looks like the inside of Gander Mountain. How do you keep up with/manage all the stuff ??
We have those big plastic totes, but they take up soooo much room. I'm also using those recyclable shopping bags from walmart.

It just seems impossible to keep up with all the stuff and I feel like I'm gonna forget something.

You should see my family room right now! Hubby and son are prepping for Cub Scout camp and most of their gear is sitting in the family room - because, you know, that's the perfect place for it, LOL. Hubby did get one plastic tote to store food, etc. in so the critters won't get to it. Makes a lot of sense to me.

As you're gathering your gear, don't forget to pack at least one LED flashlight. I would probably recommend at least one per person, actually. They take up so little room and are lightweight - and you don't have to carry batteries!

[cadfael_tex]

I use these for work but they work great for camping. They are virtually indesctructible. It also makes the problem of getting out stuff from the bottom of a top loaded duffel bag easier.

http://www.mysteryranch.com/s.nl/it....category=24119

[Eaglebait Ranch]

MILK CRATES

As some of you know, Susan and I travel in cargo van, with a 12" high false floor, which we sleep on. Under the false floor, we store things in MILK CRATES, which are only 11.5" high.

The false floor has doors for easy access to the milk crates.

[familycampman]

Checklists and totes

Not to be redundant but I love checklists and totes. Checklists keep you from forgetting things while totes keep things organized. While I have them in green totes at the moment, I'm going to plan on moving to clear totes so I can see what's actually in them prior to having to go rummaging through. Also, one thing that's helpful is to determine keep track of what you actually use on a trip. There's no sense in lug/store a bunch of stuff that you never actually use.

[Smokey Mtn. Camper]

Last weekend we were camping and a huge thunderstorm rolled in. It dumped 2+ inches of rain in a lil over an hour. I was camping by a mountain river so it was a lil concerning. Although the river never flooded, I had a small river than came running through my camp. My tent was bone dry do to the vast camping experience I have. I pitched my tent at the highest point of my camp site. However, in a moment of weakness and stupidity, I placed our dining canopy at the lowest point so the new river ran right through our dining area. I am talking about 6 inches deep at least.

If it wouldn't have been for us using some rubbermaid totes, my dining gear would have either floated away of at least been soaked. As it was, the only casuality of the flash flood was my charcoal bag got a bit wet. Thats it! after the flood subsided, we dried a few things off and never missed a beat. The use of some totes to us is invaluable to keeping things organized AND dry.

[Christn2000]

I have one of those metal milk jugs that dairy farmers used to use, and I use it for my "pantry"-food items like Jiffy Mix, olive oil, other dry mixes. It keeps the items together and weather-proof.